On The Road - Where I Would Eat In Boston Again, and Again

As I mentioned before, we made a quick trip to Boston and had a great time eating while we were there. Here are some of the highlights.

Regina's Pizza was worth the 45 minute wait in the rain, and I'm married to a guy who will not wait - usually. Located in the North End, that's all they sell, pizza, no salads, no desserts, only pizza. OK, so you can get a nice pitcher of beer there too, the wine selection is limited and adequate, but who cares - it's about the pizza.

Toro, a Spanish tapas restaurant rocked our world. Their menu is extensive, using only the finest ingredients, except we all were a little puzzled at their house specialty corn (on the cob) . For being prime corn season, it was amazingly small kernels, but that may be due to their preparation methods. It wasn't the best thing we had there, but it was pretty darn good.

Fajitas and Ritas near Downtown Crossing was a quick stop after a 5 hour flight and hunger pangs in everyone's stomach, it was within a quick walk of our hotel. Not bad, it had an unusual system of ordering food and beverages, the waiter gives the guest a checklist for them to fill out their order. For a chain not located in the Southwest, it was pretty good food. Tucked in next to them was Brattle Book Shop, located in an old 3 story house with an open air lot full of books marked down to $3-$5, bonus!

Wagamama is a small local chain of Asian fusion, mostly noodle dishes. We went to the one at Faneuil Hall, sat on the patio and watched the street performers that draw crowds to the area. By the time our noodles were ordered, delivered and eaten we watched a guy strung upside down in a straight-jacket, contort his way out and end up right side up.

Lambert's was a small grocer/deli on Tremont Street across from the Commons. We just stopped in for limes, but wish we'd purchased some sandwiches there to picnic in the park. We instead dined on leftover pizza from Regina's on a bench by the Swan Pond, but there are many great sitting areas within this beautiful setting, and be sure to walk the Freedom Trail, it begins here.

We had a late lunch bayside at The Barnacle in Marblehead after our outing of lobstering. It is a truly local place with a charming hotel attached, heavy fresh seafood emphasis on the menu, however I had a BLT (I don't eat fish or seafood), but the setting was beautiful, it reminded me of Mackinac Island in Northern Michigan.

We took a cab out to Cambridge and enjoyed a family dinner at Grafton Street across from Hah-vahd Yahd. It was very lively even at 10:00, the open windows along it's front fed from the energy of the street and vice versa. It looked like a nice local place.

We also went to a Tuscan Italian spot in the North End, Antico Forno Pizza Restaurant, it touted it's gnocchi which is one of those foods in my "must eat" rolodex. Our waiter tried to convince us on another dish, we should have listened. Unfortunately, the pizza and pasta were pretty good, the gnocchi was just OK, and the service, well I think we insulted him when we ignored his advice. I pinned 2 $1 bills on the Saints collections strips just in case.

While we were up there a huge controversy ensued - not just Gates vs. Crowley, but Mike's vs. Modern for Italian pastries. While we had one lady at Starbuck's swear by Modern, we had six people recommend Mike's so we waited in line (in the rain) to purchase a box of four pastries. Let me just say, that whether or not Modern is better (since we didn't compare we couldn't say for sure), it could only be by a minutely incremental amount because Mike's was downright damn good.

Best thing I had in Boston? Why it was at the Red Sox game, they have TWO flavors of cotton candy, I tried both, and they actually had flavor (unlike our Ballpark) of cherry and blueberry. And their peanuts were the best I've had in the last 4 years of baseball games, it was amazing how fresh they were compared to those we get here in Dallas. What's up with that? Kevin?